Speaker Silver emerged from the election with an even stronger hand than before

By Jimmy Vielkind

Published 11:07 pm, Sunday, November 25, 2012

ALBANY — Republicans have long tried to make Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver an albatross in upstate elections. But with two open inquiries into how he handled allegations of sexual harassment against a senior member, they went for the jugular.

GOP candidates called for his resignation, and challenged their Democratic opponents to do the same. They cried "shame" and denounced Silver's "hush money:" a $103,080 payment of tax dollars to settle harassment claims by two female employees of Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

Except it didn't work. Helped along by Barack Obama at the top of the ticket, Democrats gained six seats and defended the 100 they already held to further cement their conference's domination over the chamber.

"I think Shelly's hand is strengthened tremendously by the election results. Nothing beats success. He had a strong store to begin with, and this reinforces his position as speaker," said Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes, who retired this year. "Republicans threw a lot at us in terms of the sexual harassment case, et cetera, but it didn't stick."

Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee Executive Director Jennifer Dame said there was "not a drop" in its fundraising as a result of the Lopez matter, which was first reported on Aug. 24 when Silver stripped Lopez of his committee chairmanship for groping and verbally harassing two female employees. The settlement payment, directed to two different women, was revealed in subsequent days. The speaker later called on Lopez to resign, but Lopez was re-elected easily in his Democrat-heavy Brooklyn district.

And in the Capital Region, Democrats Phil Steck and Angelo Santabarbara won races for two open seats, besting Jennifer Whalen and Tom Quackenbush. Whalen's campaign aired an ad calling for Silver to resign, and said Steck "was silent" and "chose power over principle for fear of losing Silver's support." DACC, which Silver controls, spent at least $76,000 helping Steck's campaign.

"It really did resonate with people door-to-door at the time it was going on," said Whalen, a Realtor from Loudonville. "They worked very quickly to try and change the subject, but at the time it was in the news, a lot of people — especially women — were really outraged. That issue has validity."

Officials at the state Republican Party, whose chairman, Ed Cox, also called for Silver to resign, also expressed no regrets. Cox said the issue will be back in the future, but added that "when you've got the resources that Speaker Silver has and President Obama winning with 63 percent, and you get to draw the districts the way you want, it is very tough for us to win."

Cox said the party's polling showed the issue resonated with up to 60 percent of voters in some districts. But Josh Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, said future campaigns would focus more on "pocketbook issues" like high property taxes and gas prices.

"They cut across affiliation — whether you're a Republican, a Democrat or not enrolled," he said.

Cox vowed to press on, though. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics is conducting a review of how the Assembly — and Silver — handled the allegations against Lopez, and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan is examining whether criminal charges are warranted. The Assembly is reconstituting in coming weeks; it's unclear when either JCOPE or Donovan will issue a report.

"Silver should be indicted just on the facts that we know publicly," said Cox. "For him to abuse his powers this way raises the question: how many instances are there that we don't know about? It's important that this issue stay out there."